Oh Wait....Journey's gonna be playing a Halloween show there . Wonder if this is Jons Journey or Schons Journey?

I have been there a couple times. Dennis DeYoung has played there the last two years. And then I was there for two company Christmas parties. My son-in-law works there part time in the bowling alley part of it.

I was going to see April Wine and Lita Ford there this past weekend, but went somewhere else instead.

It seems they are adding more country acts. Every year I am tempted to see LRB there, but then I tell myself don't fall for it. It's not real.

WASHINGTON – Jonathan Cain of the band Journey is releasing his first Christmas album this week, Unsung Noel, which he tells CBN News is all about Christ’s birth and the “message of salvation.”

Cain said his goal is to shine a light on Biblical truths not touched on in a lot of holiday music.

“I wanted to explore Christmas and sing about what hasn’t been sung about,” he explained. “I wanted to look at the unspoken things about the nativity and the birth of Christ.”

The album includes a mix of classic Christmas songs and originals Cain wrote himself.

He said the music came to him over the summer when he was on tour with Journey.

“I was just constantly writing. It was just a flow,” he said, adding that it was a “God’s wind in your sails” kind of experience.

So how do his fans respond to his faith? Watch the video at the top of this page to find out!

Unsung Noel comes out this Friday, October 13th.

Perry's good natured bonhomie & the world’s most charmin smile,knocked fans off their feet. Sportin a black tux,gigs came alive as he swished around the stage thrillin audiences w/ charisma that instantly burnt the oxygen right out of the venue.TR.com

A lifelong love of Christmas and a more recent passion for Christian music has led to Unsung Noel, a new holiday album by Journey's Jonathan Cain that comes out Oct. 13, and is premiering exclusively below.

The set includes 10 new songs written by Cain as well as renditions of "Angels We Have Heard On High," "O Holy Night" (his mother's favorite song), "Do You Hear What I Hear" and Matt Redman's "Light Of The World."

"I wanted to make an album that really celebrates the Nativity and the birth of Christ and the coming of Christ and the things I thought were missing on a lot of the Christian albums," says Cain, who released his first Christian album, What God Wants To Hear, last year. That particular mission led him to become "sort of a detective," delving deep into topics he wanted to address in his own material for the album.

"I really studied it and went into the Bible and really got into the scripture part," Cain explains, "reading Mark and going back to Isaiah, how they prophesied the birth of Jesus 700 years before he was born. And just the idea of his parents; Being a parent, I was fascinated with the Mary and Joseph thing, thinking they need a song, too, being part of this miraculous time in history. And this supernova star that showed up that astronomers can't figure out why it was in the sky. All these things made it fun for me, and sort of provocative, being a rock n' roll guy. Why couldn't I just look at this in a new light?"

But the co-writer of so many Journey hits was also conscious of making something accessible, too. "Oh, yeah, I wanted it to have rhythm. I wanted it to have balance," acknowledges Cain, who wrote most of his original songs during Journey's 2016 summer tour. "And I hit on a nice combination of songs. It was just something I felt I could do. It was very positive."

After another spring and summer on the road with Journey, Cain isn't planning much in the way of live dates to promote Unsung Noel. He may, however, present a Facebook concert from his wife Paula White's New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, FL, and is eyeballing some potential shows in Florida closer to the holiday. The album, meanwhile, gives him something he never had a chance to do with Journey, although Cain does recall making some Christmas music with the group.

"Neal (Schon) did a version of 'Joy To The World' that we released, and on one of his solo albums we did 'Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel,' so we were playing around with it," Cain recalls. "Steve (Perry) kind of hinted around with it, but I don't think we ever got to that place. You have to get serious; You can't just say, 'We're gonna do one!' and not do it. Leading praise and worship was a whole new level for me to go to and explore, so I felt like I was exploring something different."

This was, of course, a difficult year for Journey, after a series of social media messages by Schon over control and direction of the band. Schon also criticized a White House visit by Cain (whose wife is on President Donald Trump's evangelical advisory council), frontman Arnel Pineda and bassist Ross Valory. Cain says the latter was "just an innocent visit, very, very private, it wasn't anything political" and it was never intended to be made public. And he's keeping an arm's length from the other issues Schon raised, especially in the wake of Journey's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

"You have to talk to him about it; I woke up one morning and there was a storm, and I just didn't get it," says Cain, who's also working on a memoir. "It was very, very difficult to deal with. He decided to share it with the fans instead of talking to me. But we still showed up and played our asses off. And then of course more stuff came out, and more stuff, and it was just hard to watch. I have no comment about anything else except we played great, we were selling out every night. I just chose to take the high road and play, whatever differences there were." Cain adds that the band "will have to get through our differences" before announcing plans for 2018, but he's confident that will happen.

"Y'know, the music is bigger than all of us. It's bigger than any kind of squabble," Cain says. "We'll get through them. Something like that wasn't the first time we've come at odds with each other. It's been 36 years now. But I think time heals all things, and you move on. I love this band too much, and Ross loves this band, and we all love our fans. I think in the end we all have to just tolerate and get along, and I'm prepared to do that. I have no malice towards anybody. I know God will see us through. I just feel sorry for the fans who had to go through it. They can rest assured that we're gonna be all right."

Last edited by tater1977 on Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

Perry's good natured bonhomie & the world’s most charmin smile,knocked fans off their feet. Sportin a black tux,gigs came alive as he swished around the stage thrillin audiences w/ charisma that instantly burnt the oxygen right out of the venue.TR.com

Hey Jon, God called and he said dont sing! Seriously why does he think he is a lead singer? A great writer and keyboardist yeah. but dont sing!

And after you married Paula and went on Jim Bakker's "show" the real fans of Journey want nothing to do with you. But to be in good spirit I am sending you one of Jim's survival food barrel cause we know you wont be heading to heaven when the rapture happens.

a man, well, he'll walk right into hell with both eyes open. But even the devil can't fool a dog!"

This was, of course, a difficult year for Journey, after a series of social media messages by Schon over control and direction of the band. Schon also criticized a White House visit by Cain (whose wife is on President Donald Trump's evangelical advisory council), frontman Arnel Pineda and bassist Ross Valory. Cain says the latter was "just an innocent visit, very, very private, it wasn't anything political" and it was never intended to be made public. And he's keeping an arm's length from the other issues Schon raised, especially in the wake of Journey's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

"You have to talk to him about it; I woke up one morning and there was a storm, and I just didn't get it," says Cain, who's also working on a memoir. "It was very, very difficult to deal with. He decided to share it with the fans instead of talking to me. But we still showed up and played our asses off. And then of course more stuff came out, and more stuff, and it was just hard to watch. I have no comment about anything else except we played great, we were selling out every night. I just chose to take the high road and play, whatever differences there were." Cain adds that the band "will have to get through our differences" before announcing plans for 2018, but he's confident that will happen.

"Y'know, the music is bigger than all of us. It's bigger than any kind of squabble," Cain says. "We'll get through them. Something like that wasn't the first time we've come at odds with each other. It's been 36 years now. But I think time heals all things, and you move on. I love this band too much, and Ross loves this band, and we all love our fans. I think in the end we all have to just tolerate and get along, and I'm prepared to do that. I have no malice towards anybody. I know God will see us through. I just feel sorry for the fans who had to go through it. They can rest assured that we're gonna be all right."

Perry's good natured bonhomie & the world’s most charmin smile,knocked fans off their feet. Sportin a black tux,gigs came alive as he swished around the stage thrillin audiences w/ charisma that instantly burnt the oxygen right out of the venue.TR.com

scarab wrote:Hey Jon, God called and he said dont sing! Seriously why does he think he is a lead singer? A great writer and keyboardist yeah. but dont sing!

And after you married Paula and went on Jim Bakker's "show" the real fans of Journey want nothing to do with you. But to be in good spirit I am sending you one of Jim's survival food barrel cause we know you wont be heading to heaven when the rapture happens.

I love his immense contribution to Journey. It cannot be underestimated but...as long as this keeps up with this religious stuff...I've turned his noise off and tuned him out too.

Unless someone has had a similar experience as Jon with his refound Christianity, it is really difficult to understand. It seems that for Jon, his focus is on living a life that he believes he is called by God to live. Ultimately, Jon believes that he is not answerable to anyone but God for what he is doing.

From his interview below, it seems that he is easily able to reconcile his faith with his work for Journey. To my knowledge, except for a couple of interviews that seem to change/update DSB inspiration (which is something Neal and SP have done with other songs), Jon hasn't done anything that brings dishonor to the Journey name recently. He has made a fool of HIMSELF in the eyes of many fans because of his marriage and newfound religious fervor, but so what? I think Smitty and Rolie are the only ones who haven't at some time or another over the years.

Neal is the one who brought Neal's issues with Jon out into the open. Jon didn't do it, not Ross, not Arnel, not Smitty. Without Neal's whining, we wouldn't know that there was even an issue.

As far as Jon's inspiration for new music, that has been an issue for years, going back to before Eclipse. That Jon has inspiration for a different style of music right now isn't unusual. Neal, SP, Smitty - they all have done other non-Journey type music over the years. The most recent lyrical content from Jon on Journey's last albums makes me think that the well may have run dry for him.

Should Jon pack it in, say thanks for 1/3 of a century worth of great times with Journey? Perhaps. But I don't think we need to begrudge him following what he believes in his heart he should do.

Journey's Jonathan Cain comes out today (October 13) with his second solo album -- this time a seasonal effort.

Cain's "Unsung Noel" features 10 original holiday songs along with his versions of favorites "Angels We Have Heard On High," "Oh Holy Night" (his mother's favorite song), "Do You Hear What I Hear" and Matt Redman's "Light Of The World."

His 2016 solo album, "What God Wants To Hear," was Cain's first foray into Christian music, although he tells us that Journey considered a Christmas album at various points: "We did. Neal (Schon) and I actually released...we had a version of 'Joy to the World,' that he played guitar on and that I arranged in my studio, all these synths and strings and stuff and pretty beautiful. There's a version of that...So we were playing around with it, but I don't think we had ever got to that place, where we were going to do something. Steve (Perry) had kind of hinted around at it, but you have to get serious. You can't just say 'We're gonna do one!' and not do it. Leading praise and worship was a whole new level for me to go to, and explore, so I felt like I was exploring something different."

Cain -- whose wife, Paula White, is on President Donald Trump's evangelical advisory council and operates a church in Florida -- is considering a Facebook concert to promote the album. He's also planning to publish a memoir during 2018.

Perry's good natured bonhomie & the world’s most charmin smile,knocked fans off their feet. Sportin a black tux,gigs came alive as he swished around the stage thrillin audiences w/ charisma that instantly burnt the oxygen right out of the venue.TR.com

If Friga doesn't want to create new Journey music, then he should step aside. I don't begrudge him his "born again" religious fervor, but if he can't or won't create new Journey music, as he has complained about for years, it is time for him to go.